The trouble with Harry

[mooseming]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Barry Arrowsmith" 
<arrowsmithbt at ...> wrote:

> Genuine question.
> Can anyone think of a story of this genre where *the* main 
character
> is the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer, a fantasy lead who's, 
say,
> the equivalent of Sherlock Holmes in whodunnits? 
> 
> It was a long time before HP that I was into this stuff and IIRC 
the 
> most desirable qualifications for a fantasy hero were 
perseverance, 
> stoicism verging on insensitivity, all seasoned with a modicum of 
> 'native wit'.
> Maybe things have progressed since then. 
>  
> Kneasy
>

Mostly the brightest tend to fall into the category of anti-hero!!

Off the top of my head I'd say Artemis Fowl might qualify, and some 
of the characters in George RR Martin's Fire and Ice series - Tyrion 
perhaps. Maybe Joe Abercrombie's torturer (name escapes me) from his 
First Law series.

I wish Voldy had died by falling on his wand and impaling himself, 
or that Peeves had dropped the sorting hat on his head and it 
exploded, or Bella had misjudged an AK, or Neville had interrupted 
Harry's declamation and just offed the b*****d.

In all the `unforgivable' discussions there is little (no?) 
consideration as to why JK was so delicate with AKs, I imagine Ginny 
was out practicing on those chickens myself.

Regards
Jo